2,044 events on record Subscribe September 10, 2026
Standing Record home The Standing Record A non-partisan record of US democratic norms —
and the events that erode them.

Sen. Schiff report reveals USDA, Labor, and HHS departments spent over $55,000 in taxpayer funds on Trump tribute banners

On September 15, 2025, Sen. Adam Schiff released an oversight report revealing that the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Labor, and Health and Human Services had contracted to display large Trump-tribute banners on their Washington, D.C. headquarters, including an 88-foot HHS banner promoting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s "Make America Healthy Again" slogan. The three contracts totaled more than $55,000 in taxpayer funds, which Schiff's report said violated the federal appropriations-law ban on spending public money for "publicity or propaganda purposes."

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
Washington, D.C.

Abuses documented

Actors

On September 15, 2025, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) released an oversight report revealing that the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Labor, and Health and Human Services had each contracted to construct and display large banners bearing President Trump's image or political slogans on the exterior of their Washington, D.C. headquarters. The report found the three contracts, made over a four-month span, totaled more than $55,000 in taxpayer funds; HHS alone awarded a $33,760 contract to a Texas-based small business in August 2025 for an 88-foot banner promoting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s "Make America Healthy Again" slogan alongside Trump's image.

Schiff's report characterized the banners as propaganda and concluded the spending violated a federal appropriations-law provision, in place since 1951, barring the use of taxpayer funds for "publicity or propaganda purposes." The report also noted that one contract specified the banners should last "preferably 4 years." A White House spokeswoman dismissed the report and attacked Schiff personally; Trump has separately called for Schiff to be prosecuted over unrelated mortgage-fraud allegations, which Schiff denies.

Updates

2025-09-17 — Labor Department reinstalled its banner after a brief removal; HHS defended its contract [5, 6]

The Department of Labor took its banner down the day after Schiff's report, with a spokesperson calling the move temporary reinforcement "at no charge to taxpayers" and saying it would be reinstalled the next day; it was back up by September 17. An HHS spokesperson defended the department's contract, saying "all HHS solicitations go through a full legal and compliance review to ensure they meet federal requirements."

2026-07-16 — Schiff revealed additional banner contracts totaling $153,000 [3, 4]

Schiff disclosed newly uncovered documents showing two additional taxpayer-funded contracts for Trump banners: $39,000 for the Department of the Interior and $114,020 for the Federal Aviation Administration, both awarded to a Maryland-based firm, bringing total disclosed spending on the banner program past $200,000.

Why we recorded this

Public-service norms bar officials from using public funds and offices to glorify themselves rather than serve the public. Three federal departments spent over $55,000 in taxpayer money on large banners bearing the President's image and political slogans on their own headquarters, a use of appropriated funds a Senate oversight report found violates the decades-old statutory ban on propaganda spending. Later reporting found the spending program continued and grew, with two additional contracts totaling $153,000, pushing disclosed spending past $200,000. This archive records when officials direct public resources toward self-glorification rather than the public functions those funds were appropriated for.

Sources

  1. NEWS: Sen. Schiff Exposes Plans for Additional Propaganda Banners, Details Illegal Federal Spending in New Report — Office of Sen. Adam Schiff primary accessed July 17, 2026
  2. Schiff report details thousands spent on Trump posters hanging from federal buildings — Denver Gazette secondary accessed July 17, 2026
  3. NEWS: Sen. Schiff Reveals New Uncovered Documents Exposing Continued Taxpayer Waste on Trump Banners Across Nation's Capital — Office of Sen. Adam Schiff primary accessed July 17, 2026
  4. Taxpayers covering bill for giant Trump banners around DC, Democrat reveals — The Independent secondary accessed July 17, 2026
  5. Schiff releases report alleging misuse of taxpayer funds for 'propaganda' — NY1 secondary accessed July 18, 2026
  6. Trump face banners on federal buildings cost taxpayers — Axios secondary accessed July 18, 2026

See also